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"John 19 tells us that Jesus wore designer clothes," Avanzini said, referring to the purple robe that Christ's tormentors wrapped around him before the Crucifixion. "I mean, you didn't get the stuff he wore off the rack … . No, this was custom stuff. It was the kind of garment that kings and rich merchants wore."

TBN viewers are told that if they don't reap a windfall despite their donations, they must be doing something to "block God's blessing" — most likely, not giving enough.

Crouch has particularly stern words for those who are not giving at all.

"If you have been healed or saved or blessed through TBN and have not contributed … you are robbing God and will lose your reward in heaven," he said during a 1997 telecast. … "If the Devil can keep all of us Christians poor, we won't have any disposable income to build Christian television stations," Crouch said once.

Lobdell has a fine survey of this teaching's history, from E.W. Kenyon to Kenneth Hagin (neither of whom went as far as Crouch does in his prosperity gospel teachings). But Lobdell also notes that not all donors give out of a desire to receive riches—many do so to promote a global Christian television network they believe is preaching the gospel of Christ. (And while Crouch clearly preaches the prosperity gospel message, a huge number of TBN's other personalities—including Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, Greg Laurie, and Adrian Rogers—do not.)

It's no surprise that Paul Crouch wouldn't be interviewed for Lobdell's most recent article. More surprising is that his oldest son, TBN vice president for administration Paul Crouch Jr., did submit to an interview. Lobdell reports that Crouch Jr.:

said critics of the prosperity gospel overlook the fact that the network has used viewers' contributions to bring God's word to millions of people.

He said it was unfortunate that "the prosperity gospel is a lightning rod for the Body of Christ. It's not what drives TBN."

If TBN was interested only in money, the younger Crouch said, it would sell advertisements instead of funding its operations primarily with viewers' contributions.

"We could double our money tomorrow," he said.

He added that appeals for money make up a small part of TBN programming and are prominent mainly during TBN's twice-yearly, weeklong "Praise-a-thons."

In the wake of the Times article about allegations of the gay tryst, TBN issued a press release:

In a show of solidarity, Christian leaders from around the world have sent e-mails, faxes and have called in their support and prayers for Dr. Crouch. … Supporters have included: publisher Stephen Strang; Pastor Benny Hinn; and Daystar's president Marcus Lamb; as well as author Josh McDowell; Doug Wead; an adviser to the former President Bush; and singers Pat Boone and Carmen, to name but a few, reported Paul Crouch Jr., the eldest son of Dr. Crouch.

Take the list for what it's worth: it may be revealing that the press release misspells the name of TBN regular Carman, who hosts multiple shows on the network. It's unclear what any of these men actually said, though we would hope that all Christian leaders would agree to pray for Crouch. In any case, the story has changed. It's no longer a he-said/he-said question of sexual ethics. It's now a much larger story about theology teaching — something the Bible treats as much more serious than moral failure. Strang's Charisma magazine has in recent years criticized the prosperity gospel as a "manipulation" of Scripture. Apologist Josh McDowell certainly doesn't subscribe to this theology, either. Perhaps they will now be more direct with Crouch about his destructive theology.

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48